When the Situation Seems Hopeless

Are you praying about a "hopeless" situation? I learned something about this kind of praying by comparing some of the battles of the Israelites.

Judah drove out the inhabitants of the mountain, but they "could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron," Judges 1:19. These chariots of iron caused Judah to hesitate, waver, give way to fear, and loose their faith in God. They decided it was hopeless and lost heart.

Were the iron chariots really the reason for their failure? We might think so if it had not been that Joshua and Barak had conquered despite iron chariots. They refused to give up because, while they could not defeat iron chariots, they believed God could. "Because he had nine hundred iron chariots and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the LORD for help" (Judges 4:3). A few verses later, despite the 900 iron chariots, "God subdued Jabin, the Canaanite king, before the Israelites" (4:23).

We sometimes meet the "impossible iron chariots" in our praying and we think of some reason God "couldn't possibly answer." We think that if it were not for a certain factor or situation, we could trust God for victory.

But when we get to Heaven we'll not be able to say, "Lord, I would have conquered my discouragement and doubts if it had not been for those "iron chariots." When in eternity we glimpse God's glorious power and faithfulness to answer persevering prayer, we'll see that our excuses made no sense.

Dear Lord, please give us the perseverance necessary when praying for a difficult circumstance."With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God" (Mark 10:27).

Memory Verse for February "I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure" (Psalm 16:8-9).

Prayer RequestPlease pray for those who are preparing new discipleship materials to be presented at the conference.